Search - Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Augustin Pfleger, Servaes de Koninck :: Saints & Sinners: 17th Century Musical Dialogue

This disc marks the recording debut of Cappella Figuralis, the chamber ensemble of the Netherlands Bach Society. The program explores the Latin musical dialogue, a genre common throughout the 17th century and nearly forgotten since. In this context, a "dialogue" is basically a small-scale oratorio--that is, two or more characters (sometimes with a narrator) enacting a Bible story, an allegory, or a scene from the lives of the saints. In fact, lovers of French Baroque music may know the genre better than they realize: Marc-Antoine Charpentier wrote several of the finest examples, including Le reniement de St.- Pierre. This disc includes one piece by Charpentier (about St. Cecilia); the remaining works are by all-but-forgotten composers such as Carel Harcquart, Servaes de Koninck, and the intriguingly-named Benedictus a Sancto Josepho, who wrote the two highlights of the disc: Posita in medio (a dialogue between the Soul, a Demon, Flesh, and the World) and a simple, lovely Ave Maria for two sopranos and two violins. --Matthew Westphal